Atitagain Posted November 29, 2021 Author Share Posted November 29, 2021 On 11/28/2021 at 9:28 PM, Beardedbillygoat1975 said: This is an exciting development and progression in your blackwater tanks. Well done! The puffers seemed to really change their color with the addition. Any noticeable changes in behaviors? They have been coming out in the open more but that’s been since I added the dither fish and leaves. Wasn’t able to keep a good eye on them today but we’ll see! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted December 11, 2021 Author Share Posted December 11, 2021 Been busy with other projects, not that my 2 blackwater tanks have been ignored just no new updates. Kinda trying to keep my hands out of them as much as possible and let them season out for awhile #stt I in essence did some more blackwater set ups. 3 of them will be using water from my 125G blackwater for top offs and water changes so all 3 will stay tea colored at least. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted December 17, 2021 Author Share Posted December 17, 2021 @Zenzo and @Cory answered my question tonight on the live stream about blackwater tanks. Thank you so much for the info! One of the things he mentioned to get the orange/ tan look is using more of a spotlight effect rather than normal plant light from one end to the other. before on 125G after before on 20G after The 125G is amazing difference not coming through exactly but it’s such a orange/ tan coloration IRL. The 20G I’m not super happy with my solution but I will probably take care of that tomorrow if I make it to the store and get a new light. 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beardedbillygoat1975 Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 @Atitagainboy did that get moody quick!! The 125 looks great. Agree that the 20 will need some work trial and error but you’ll get it there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted December 17, 2021 Share Posted December 17, 2021 These are looking great! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted December 18, 2021 Author Share Posted December 18, 2021 Got update on the 20G. Bought a new lamp for this today and it changed the color drastically. This tank always seemed to be weak on the color, I figured it was the oak leaves instead of IAL. But again, wow what a difference! The 20G before after (sorry for the weird angle it’s best one for glare) 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted December 30, 2021 Author Share Posted December 30, 2021 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted January 1, 2022 Author Share Posted January 1, 2022 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jawjagrrl Posted April 2, 2022 Share Posted April 2, 2022 You've really inspired me! Our water parameters are similar and I've been thinking about Blackwater a lot as an approach to my SA 75 setups. I already use magnolia leaves for my shrimp, but have acres of botanicals to use and hopefully compensate for all the water hardness here. Not sure if you've seen Joey's piranha tank (king of diy), but I love the lightning he did. Bright in two areas with plants (anubis I think) and dark in a more open water portion where the fish hang out most. I could watch that tank for hours. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted April 2, 2022 Share Posted April 2, 2022 @Jawjagrrlmy TDS out of the tap can top 300😲 My fish **love** botanicals, and I did my last dirt tanks without even sifting out larger pieces of wood. Huge difference in the richness of the coloring in the water, and best part? I haven't had any sick fish or snails. Best of all worlds. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jawjagrrl Posted April 2, 2022 Share Posted April 2, 2022 On 4/1/2022 at 8:10 PM, Torrey said: @Jawjagrrlmy TDS out of the tap can top 300😲 My fish **love** botanicals, and I did my last dirt tanks without even sifting out larger pieces of wood. Huge difference in the richness of the coloring in the water, and best part? I haven't had any sick fish or snails. Best of all worlds. Hoping for that health benefit too! How important do you feel monitoring TDS is? I don't know my value there, just that my tanks are happy. Worth getting a meter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torrey Posted April 2, 2022 Share Posted April 2, 2022 On 4/1/2022 at 6:58 PM, Jawjagrrl said: Hoping for that health benefit too! How important do you feel monitoring TDS is? I don't know my value there, just that my tanks are happy. Worth getting a meter? I got a free meter with my purchase of my ZeroWater filter (strongly recommend!) I discovered a correlation between cyanobacteria and TDS, as Mmiller had suspected. I now top off with ZeroWater (we live in the desert, lots and lots of evaporation) and replace water during water changes with a mix of ZeroWater and my tap, after measuring TDS in the tank and the tap. Tanks with TDS still over 150 will pop up with a bit of cyanobacteria, and not anywhere near as much as when the 3 tanks had TDS almost at 1,000😲 I haven't had to use antibiotics to treat it either! Snails are growing healthier, larger shells and my sponge filters are more efficient. I'm using a Pür filter to reduce chloramine and other contaminants from my kitchen sink faucet, and mix that with the ZeroWater instead of remineralizing... it takes a little more math, and it's saving me money and my fish are happy. So are the snails, and the scuds 😉 the turtle is thrilled, and shell growth has improved. I almost have enough confidence to try another colony of shrimp! I was really surprised to discover my Walstad inspired tank's pH had dropped to 6.4, even with TDS over 200, thanks to all those tannins (tannic acid for anyone not aware). pH is holding steady, even as I slowly get the TDS a little lower. Calcium is responsible for more than half of the TDS in our water,according to the lab reports, so the endlers are reproducing well and snail shells aren't pitting. It definitely requires a bit more monitoring to tweak a balanced tank... and the payoffs are 100% worth the extra work up front. I got away without doing anything other than top offs for 3 months after surgery. Now, thanks to the TDS meter, I can make a more informed choice of how to utilize my limited energy. I'm back up to 13 tanks, 10 with animals in them who are thriving. All my plants are thriving. I only have cyanobacteria left in 2 tanks. Even my pico tanks have achieved some sort of stability. Was I absolutely gutted when I lost my carbon rilli and blue rilli colonies when I got covid? Yes. Is my health back to 2019 parameters? no. But with the TDS meter and Aquarium Co-op test strips, I feel like I am headed in the direction of success... even if I have had to push off some of my goals, you know? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted April 2, 2022 Author Share Posted April 2, 2022 On 4/1/2022 at 8:05 PM, Jawjagrrl said: You've really inspired me! Our water parameters are similar and I've been thinking about Blackwater a lot as an approach to my SA 75 setups. I already use magnolia leaves for my shrimp, but have acres of botanicals to use and hopefully compensate for all the water hardness here. Not sure if you've seen Joey's piranha tank (king of diy), but I love the lightning he did. Bright in two areas with plants (anubis I think) and dark in a more open water portion where the fish hang out most. I could watch that tank for hours. I’m so glad to hear this, blackwater is so amazing to me and the benefits of everything has really opened my eyes. It’s a fun and exciting rabbit hole 🕳. I have a new darkwater set up I’ll be posting about here in a couple days. And I think the fish in it really shine against the darkness. 😁 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted April 3, 2022 Author Share Posted April 3, 2022 (edited) 60G Black water with electric blue acara So far of all my dark tanks this one really catches the feel of what I love about blackwater tanks. This is still a work in progress I’ll be adding more/ different botanicals, working with filtration, adding more water lettuce (if needed), upgrade lighting, and one or two new fish/ snails. plants on this set up include: some Amazon swords, water lettuce, duck weed, and some pothos . hardscape has caribsea cichlid sand, an assortment of rocks, 4 medium pieces mopani, lots of driftwood branches, lots of accent roots, and some Indian almond leaves. this is a floating log about 2 years in a tank⬇️ For stocking I have a bristlenose pleco, and 6 electric blue acaras Edited April 3, 2022 by Atitagain Added pics 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Atitagain Posted April 5, 2022 Author Share Posted April 5, 2022 These electric blue acara look amazing especially against the dark spots and weaving through the branches ohhhhHHH weEEEE!!! Perfect fish for blackwater? Maybe, I absolutely love the rummys and cardinals too! im trying to get more pics but they are very active and of course when I get close they wag tails front center glass. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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